Nasscom welcomes legal relief on U.S. visa move

Nasscom on Wednesday welcomed a U.S. court order barring new rules pertaining to the H-1B visa programme and said the order would help U.S. businesses access critical talent.

While the changes would have hurt Indian IT firms, Nasscom said, “Study after study has demonstrated that the H-1B programme plays an essential role in helping U.S. enterprises secure skillsets that they cannot find locally and that these high-skilled employees provide tremendous benefit to their employers and the U.S economy as a whole”.

Jeffrey S. White, district judge of the Northern District of California, on Tuesday ruled against recent changes in the H-1B visa programme made by the Trump administration, which raised minimum wage levels and tightened eligibility requirements, according to Nasscom.

The industry group cited the judge as saying the changes were introduced in a hurry and did not abide by transparency obligations such as giving notice and time for public comment.